Self-publishing costs

If I may offer some advice, first pay for an editor. John Hudspith is the one I use, he is excellent. Cost depends on the length of the work. Then make sure you get a professional cover. Expect to pay anything from £20-£100. Any more than that and it's too much. I use Jane Dixon-Smith, she is very intuitive and produces excellent work. I format my own documents for Kindle/Smashwords and Createspace (if you're going to do a paperback as well) and there are lots of free docs you can download to help you with that. I recommend downloading the free Kindle app for the PC and check, double check and triple check it for errors - the public are very unforgiving and vocal about errors and issues, not so much about the good things! In case you're wondering about the validity of my suggestions, I've been publishing on Kindle since 2009. I've learnt loads, and all on a shoestring budget. Good luck and if you have any questions about what I said, ask away!

Hello you oldpesky, There is a company I've just recently found that looks quite interesting and I know someone who has used them but I don't see this person very often so can't ask about her experience. United Press is the company and I just popped over to look at their site to make sure I wasn't putting you wrong. I still think it looks good. Unfortunately they can't help me because my book is already printed because I won it as a prize and they work from scratch. From what I understand Amazon's Create a space is free but Parson Thru is your man there. Hope that helps, Moya

I'd recommend Lulu --> http://www.lulu.com/gb/publish/books/ I wouldn't advise United Press at all - it looks like a scam (Google it, but here's a taste (Winning Writers are excellent) http://www.winningwriters.com/contests/avoid/av_avoid.php ). In fact, here's an ABC forum post about them --> http://www.abctales.com/forum/2012/07/15/united-press-poetry-anthology http://www.ukauthors.com

I went with Createspace. It costs nothing. Easy to use and its an Amazon company. You can create your own cover and within 24 hours its available on kindle. Within 48 its on paperback. Easy.

I don't know much about it, Kevin. But I once had a thought that it would be great to make up your own book covers. You'd come up with a great title and put a cheesy picture of yourself on the back. And then inside of the cover you could put a bio and all the 'raves' from the critics. Then you'd go to your local bookstore and slip them onto random books. Well, it was a thought. All the best, Kevin.

And a cunning thought too, I like it.